Dirigible sledge or sleigh



June 30, 1931. F. WELS 1,812,252

I I DIRIG'IBLE SLEDGE, SLEIGH Filed Dec. 5, m9

I ple which i v of the vehicle substantially at the longitudinal v Patented J n.. so, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICET o osLovAKIir. ssrenon OF FRANZ WELS, or scHLoss HARTA, NEAR HOHENELIBE, ozn 11mm, fHOHENELIBE,

ONE-HALF 'I' O CHRISTIAN KRONIG, OF SCHLOSS HARTL- CZECHOSLOVAKIA Application filed December 3, .1929, Serial No.

Dirigible sledges, sleighs, boats and the like are already known in which rotatable V vanes, runners and the like are provided for the steering. i 1 The presentinvention is based on a princi- 3 fundamentally differs from the above principle,

steeringthe' vehicle by means of a. paddlewheel with vanes at the forward end or stem or at the rear end or stem of the vehicle, such as a sledge, sleigh, boat orothe'like, the said addleewheel being rotated substantially about the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Thus the vehicle is pushed laterally out of its course byway of the resistance raisedon the track by rotating the paddle-wheel and transmitted to the vehicle as a transversal forcej Therefore the 'travelling'vehicleis not obstructed in the direction of travel and is not subjected to a resistance atthe forward end as in the case of the known arrangements.

Some modes of carrying out the present-invention are illustrated by way of example'on the accompanying sheet of drawings in which Figsil, 2 and I 3 show a dirigible sledge in sectional side view, plan view and front view. respectively. v

, Fig. 4 is a front view of a boat provided. with the steering device according to the I present invention. I

V Fig. 5 shows in sectional side view a-modified construction of the dirigible" sledge.

' A shaftS is rotatably mounted at the, front.

axis thereof and carries a steeringjwheelv namely on theprinciple ofv vanes rotata DIRIGIBLE SLEDGE on stnrerr 411,358, and. in Austria November 29, 925.

Theopaddle wheel acting as ships rudder v illustrated in Fig.4 is provided with eight 1 vanes. Budders of this kind may be ar--- ranged at the forward, end and rear end and 7 may be operated'individually or jointly by a bevel wheel gear or the like.

lnjthe construction shown "in Fig. 5,1the

shaft of the paddle-wheel and shaft of the steering wheel are disposed horizontally and connected'by'a chain wheel drive of any de sired ratio. The legs of the passengers rest onfoot-boards B. The dotted line D indicates Ia casing. The extraordinary effect of thissteering arrangement in water or, on

snow or ice consists in that every; vane of the travelling vehicle. meets with a good resistance on the undisturbed track.

,1. In a dirigible sledge, sleigli, boat and' ,th'elike thepjrovision of a paddle-wheel with I 'ly attached to the vehicle sub- I stantiajlly'about its longitudinal axis, steer-- ing means for'rotating said paddle-wheel and means transmitting the rotation of said steering means to the shaft of'said' paddlewheel. 7 v

a dirigible'sledge, sleigh, boat and the like the provision of a paddle-wheel rotatably attached tothe vehicle substantially about its longitudinalaxis, the paddle-wheel In testimony whereof and a paddle wheel constituted by'vanes' I Preferably four vanesA arej provided and are pivotally secured. to the shaft S.

cording to the present invention can be provided with two three, four and even eight seats and with a brakeof known construction. t Fig. 2 shows, that the radius of the steering circle does not pass beyond the gauge'of the runners of the sledge. 1'

sledgesfittedlwiththe steeringdevice ac-.

Fig. 3 shows the sledgeon sno w thedotted vanes. I

lines indicating adjusted positions of the comprisingashaft,vanes pivotally. secured thereto; steering means for rotating said padj die-wheel, and means'transmitting therota- -tion of said steering means to said shaftfi I afiix my signature.

FRANZ WELS.) a 

